The lack of protection for the public from bogus doctors is to be raised in the Dáil this afternoon.
Fine Gael's spokeswoman on health, Ms Olivia Mitchell, said she was raising the matter after receiving a complaint about a person posing as a doctor in the eastern region.
This person, she said, was writing prescriptions and issuing sick certificates but wasn't registered with the Medical Council.
The Irish Patients' Association (IPA) wrote to the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, and the Irish Medical Council to express its concerns about this issue last month. The council said that, if a person was not on its doctor's register, it was a matter for the Department of Health.
The chairman of the IPA, Mr Stephen McMahon, said he was concerned there was nobody in particular in the Department one could go to with concerns about the authenticity of a doctor.
He did not know how many bogus doctors there were, but he was concerned that even one could have implications for several hundred patients in any one year. Patients, he suggested, should check with their doctor to ensure they were registered with the Medical Council.
Dr Maurice Gueret, a member of the Eastern Regional Health Authority, said there had been a number of cases of unqualified persons performing doctors' duties.
In 2001 an African surgeon was performing what he described as "kitchen-table circumcisions" at €130 a time, and one boy almost bled to death as a result of the procedure.
"The reality is anybody can set up and practise, and if they are not on the medical register nobody can touch them. There really is a public-health issue here," he said.
"It's my belief that animal health in Ireland is better patrolled than human health.
"Anybody can set up tomorrow offering any kind of services, and the general public is no wiser as to what they are offering," he claimed.
In its letter to the Minister for Health, the IPA suggested centrally issued prescription pads with a unique serial number or other security feature to prevent counterfeit prescriptions.
"These security protections have been in operation in the UK since April 1998 following their study which showed a loss to the NHS of £100 million to theft and fraud in prescription drugs," the letter said.
"It appears to us anyone can be unregistered as a medical practitioner in the Republic of Ireland and perform many of the functions of a registered GP without any effective monitoring, control, or policing, and that no one statutory body is in a position to take control and co-ordinate an investigation of complaints in the public and patients' interests," the letter added.
The association called for urgent changes in the 1978 Medical Practitioners Act to ensure patients were properly protected. The Act has been under review for some time.
A spokeswoman for Mr Martin said last night that the issue was complex, but protection of the public was of utmost importance to the Minister.
"These general issues are being discussed in the context of the Medical Practitioners Act," she said.